Printing Directory & File Lists In Windows 7

There is no native built-in way (still) in Windows to print a list of files displayed in Windows Explorer from Windows Explorer. For occasional use, though, there is a command line method which utilizes the DIR command and piping the results to a text file. To do this:

Open the command shell

Navigate to the directory you want to print a list of using the cd\ path command

Then use the Dir >listing.txt to pipe the results to a file

The file can be found in the directory you where the command was run

If access is denied, you will need to run the command shell with elevated rights, even if you are already an administrator

If you have user that is going to need to do this frequently, you can need to create a context menu option, which can be used for any folder, on the desktop or Explorer. If you had done this previously in Windows XP, the method is slightly different, since in Windows 7 you do not have the File Types tab available in the Folder Options menu of Explorer.

There is a Microsoft KB article on how to perform this for both operating systems, but the Windows 7 method does not seem to work as advertised … for me at least. I have modified the bat file so that directory list remains open in Notepad so it can be quickly printed in addition to creating a listing.txt file in %temp%.

Note, this right-click menu option is for folders only. It does not apply to Libraries, e.g. Document or music libraries. If the user happens to have some screen capture software installed like SnagIt, then you can use the scrolling window feature to capture an image of a directory.